The Wonders Metal Lattice can Perform- Breakthrough Material

Researchers at Composites Center and HRL Laboratories at the University of Southern California have created something that will blow you away – the breakthrough material.

Technology Workflow

The researchers have created a metal lattice of hollow tubes with the use of which vibration, sound and shock can easily be absorbed. It is so much light in weight that you barely feel its weight. Its density is 0.9 milligram per cubic centimeter that is less than one-thousandth that of water. The technology works as follows. A bunch of hollow tubes are inter-connected with a wall which is 100 nanometers thick in size and a 100 nanometer is 1000 times thinner than a human hair.

Behind the Curtain

Behind the making of the lattice, there is a long procedure. First of all, lasers beam is made to pass through a reservoir of a resin and as the light hits it, polymer fibers are formed. These fibers are made to follow the path the light takes ultimately creating multiple interconnected fibers as there are multiple beams in the reservoir. In the last step, the polymer fibers are left with a very thin coating of nickel while the remaining resin is washed away. In fact, by changing the properties of a perforated mask, we can adjust the dimensions of the lattice.